Many teams are making a final playoff push in the next month and a half. For the Washington Capitals, their goal is to maintain their position atop the Metropolitan Division in the National Hockey League (NHL).
After a nine-day break across the NHL, the Capitals took the ice Thursday for the second time this week at MedStar Capitals IcePlex. Practices have been off to a good start so far, but the team understands that the real test will come when the puck drops for real during this Saturday's matchup with the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
“We battled today, a lot of battle drills, but nothing’s like a game,” said Caps center, Pierre-Luc Dubois. “That first period will be important to keep things simple and really just get back into it.”
The Capitals should be well-rested after the break. Washington was just one of a handful of teams that didn’t have a player participating in the Four Nations Tournament. Winger Tom Wilson thinks could help the Caps down the road.
“I think in a couple of months here, it will have been nice to have this week off and have a bit of a break and reset so that you’re feeling good going into the last chunk of hockey,” said Wilson.
With only 27 games left to be played in the regular season, it will be up to the Capitals to determine their fate.
“We know the jobs not done, there’s a lot of hockey left to be played. A lot can happen in these last 20-something games,” said DuBois.
“I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position but it doesn’t really matter what’s gone on to this point,” said Wilson. “Our games have been good, we feel solid as a group, but meaningful hockey is coming and we’ve got to be ready for it.”
NHL Power Rankings for Feb. 20
We saw where the experts rank the Washington Capitals but where do we rank them?
You've seen what the experts have said about the Washington Capitals and it's no secret how successful they've been this season. But where do we rank the Caps among the leauge. Lets just say were a little biased after seeing the Caps ranked #2 everywhere.
After seeing the experts put the Caps at number two we had to put them at number one for our latest power rankings. We watch this team night in and night out. We know what this team is capable of and what they aren't. Credit to Winnipeg for winning the matchup to begin the month but that one game doesn't make a difference in these rankings.
Logan Thompson has been excellent in goal as he's 24-2-5 with a 2.23 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. Charlie Lindgren is 12-9-3 with a 2.63 goals agaisnt average and a .900 save percentage. Alex Ovechkin leads the Caps with 26 goals and needs 16 to break the record.
Other leaders on the Caps include Dylan Strome who has 16 goals, a team leading 38 assists for a team leading 54 points. As for young players Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael already set career highs in goals, assists and points this season. Protas has 22 goals and 24 assists for 46 points in 55 games played while McMichael has recorded 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points in 55 games.
Nine other Capitals skaters are also on pace to establish career marks in goals, assists and/or points. So it truly shows how much this team has come together since the start of training camp.
The Capitals will hold one more practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Friday at 10:30 a.m. before they depart to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins with a 3 p.m. puck drop on Saturday afternoon on ABC and ESPN plus.
